Child porn case involves photo of apparently dead infant with noose

May 16, 2013

Sean Gossman, 24, of Adrian, was arrested this morning after the FBI found more than 1,000 child porn images on a computer thumb drive that was traced to Gossman, court records show. / Lenawee County Sherriff's Office

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A disturbing child pornography case involving a photo of a presumably dead infant with a noose around her neck took a twist Thursday: The defendant showed up in court in what appeared to be a woman’s camisole.

Sean Gossman, 24, of Adrian, who has distinctively bright red hair, made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Detroit wearing a dingy white camisole and jeans, appearing pale and disoriented before the federal magistrate. He was arrested Thursday morning after the FBI found more than 1,000 child porn images on a computer thumb drive that was traced to Gossman, court records show.

Among the images was a photo of a presumably dead infant with a noose around her neck, a bag over her head and a tattoo on her stomach that said, “nepi-rape,” according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. An Internet search of that term revealed that “nepi-rape” means “the rape of innocence,” the complaint said.

The criminal complaint did not have any information on the infant in the image nor did it say who took the photo. The FBI is investigating that angle.

"As in all child pornography cases, we are taking the necessary steps to determine the origin of the photo," said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade. "In recent years, we have seen images of child exploitation grow more and more graphic and violent as evidenced by the photo discovered in this case."

Pretrial Services, which collects information about criminal defendants to help determine if they should released on bond or detained, was not able to get any information about Gossman this morning. He is temporarily locked up pending a detention hearing on Monday.

Gossman’s public defender was not available for comment.

Gossman is charged with receipt and possession of child pornography.

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit on file in federal court, the FBI was alerted to Gossman after a child found a thumb drive on the ground last November while in Onsted Village Park in Onsted, in Lenawee County. A family member of the child turned the thumb drive over to the Cambridge Township Police, who found child pornographic images on it, along with photos of the defendant, the complaint said.

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The FBI conducted a computer forensic exam of the thumb drive and found 1,039 images of child pornography on it, including 28 images depicting bondage or torture, 10 movies, one movie involving bestiality and 536 images of child erotica, the complaint said. A forensic examiner also found 21 non-pornographic photos of Gossman that were taken with a cell phone camera, the complaint said.

The thumb drive also contained a “Tor Browser,” which protects users’ online privacy by bouncing their communications around a network of relay computers, thus masking the user’s IP address and making it difficult to identify the user. The browser also prevents someone who is trying to monitor an Internet connection from learning what sites a user visits, prevents the sites the user visits from learning the user’s physical location, and lets the user access sites that could otherwise be blocked.

According to the complaint, Gossman was a defendant on April 5 in a show-cause hearing at the Lenawee County courthouse. The reason for the hearing was not listed. But at the hearing, Gossman confirmed he was staying at a trailer within the Sterling Estates Mobile Home Park in Adrian. That same day, the FBI obtained a search warrant and searched the trailer with Gossman present. Federal agents seized two laptops, several CD/DVDs and three thumb drives.

According to the complaint, Gossman — after being read his rights — indicated that all the thumb drives were his and admitted that he downloaded child erotica, then moved on to child pornographic images, and most recently got into downloading child porn movies and video clips.

The complaint did not say if Gossman knew any of the children in the pictures, or if he took any part in producing the images. He has been charged only with receipt and possession of child pornography.